A Snake In Their Midst
by kdbvols
Summary: When a Slytherin asks Harry if she and a few of her friends can join the DA, tensions rise, even as romance begins to bloom. Can Harry and Daphne break the barriers of a house rivalry to find true love? M for language and potential for some lemons down the road. HarryxDaphne
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first story, picking up in the first half of Harry's 5th year. Enjoy and leave reviews!

I am also sad to announce that I am not JK Rowling and therefore own none of her characters, plot points, locations, or... well, anything else.

* * *

"Hey Potter!"

Harry turned around looking for the source of the shout, but didn't see anyone he knew. A few seconds later, the girl called again - causing Harry to wonder what on earth could be so important that a random Slytherin girl he didn't know was calling after him. With a vague sense of misgiving, Harry walked over to her, letting Ron and Hermione know that he'd catch up with them in the Great Hall.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"We want in on your defense lessons."

"What defense lessons…?" Harry asked, trying to appear innocent while internally panicking. If Slytherins knew about Dumbledore's Army after only 2 meetings than Umbridge would know in a matter of days.

"Don't play dumb with me Potter. I'm friends with some of the Ravenclaws you invited, and they were talking about it where I could hear. I want in."

Harry considered for a moment. Was it better to risk a Slytherin in their midsts or to upset an outsider who already knew about them? He knew that there wasn't really a choice, but he was reluctant to let such a total stranger into the only part of his life that wasn't absolute troll shit.

"Is it just you?" he asked to stall "Or are there others? You said 'we' the first time, but switched to 'I,' and there's a difference."

"I have a couple of friends who are interested too, but why should it matter, I thought you were going to teach anyone who wanted to learn how to defend themselves? At least, that's what Padma said earlier. Or do you honestly think that we're going to side with that hag Umbridge just because we got sorted into a different house than you?"

She had him there, and he knew it.

"Okay, you can come. But you'll have to sign the same list everyone else did agreeing not to tell Umbridge - or anyone else - before I can give you any more details."

The dark-haired Slytherin considered that for a moment. "Deal," she said finally.

"Okay. I don't have it with me, but I'll grab you after class in the next couple of days." He started to walk away, but turned back, curious. "Why did you want in on this so badly?"

"He's back. And joining him has never been an option for me."

Harry stared at her, more than a little bit impressed as she spun on her heels and walked down the corridor. He had to admit to himself, that Daphne Greengrass was not the least bit unattractive. Harry shook his head and headed down to the Great Hall.

* * *

"You WHAT?"

"Ron, calm down you prat, I told Daphne that she and a couple of her friends could join DA. What's your problem?"

"Mate, I get the whole 'helping anyone who wants it' thing, but they're in SLYTHERIN! Why would they want to work against Umbridge? Hell, they're all pure-bloods, why would they even be afraid of You-Know-Who?"

"Well Ron, you're a pureblood, and last I checked, you aren't planning on working for Voldemort either" Harry retorted, making sure to emphasize the Dark Lord's name, knowing Ron still couldn't stand it. He was simultaneously gratified and disappointed when he saw his best friend flinch at it. "Besides, if I'm judging people based their house and blood status, I'm no better than Malfoy."

Hermione smiled at that, glad to see that at least one of her two friends was starting to overcome his prejudices. After all, the house divisions were rather stupid. "I agree Harry," she chimed in. "Besides, I have Arithmancy with Daphne, and she absolutely loathes 'those Slytherins,' especially Draco. She rants about him to her friend Tracey all of the time." She noticed Harry looked slightly relieved to hear that, and made a note to question it later.

"Okay, so maybe she's not a complete nutter, but the Ice Queen, Harry? She didn't get the nickname from her warm and sunny disposition," Ron raved.

"Look, she believes me and she wants to learn. Until I have any reason to distrust her, she's in."

Ron gaped at Harry for a second before conceding. "Suit yourself mate, but I'm warning you, she'll be nothing but trouble." He turned back to the essay he was supposed to have been writing while this debate had been raging for the past half hour.

Harry, having finished his work gazed out the window, praying that Ron's words wouldn't turn out too prophetic.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Here's part 2! And shocking as it may seem, this has not magically become mine instead of JK Rowling's, much to my dismay.

* * *

"Okay, so since we finished up with the Disarming Charm last week, I was hoping we could move on to the Impediment Jinx. It's a great way to slow down an enemy, and if done correctly can even blast an enemy away from you. The incantation is ' _impedimenta_ ' and the wand motion is primarily a jab, watch me..." Harry began his DA lesson the following week. He was really proud of how well everyone had done after a couple of weeks with _expelliarmus_ and was anxious to see them move on to slightly harder work. Of course, he was also slightly anxious of the new faces in the room - Daphne, as well as her friends, Tracey Davis, and Blaise Zabini. Not only was he worried that the arrival of several Slytherins could stir up trouble within the DA, but he was also starting to feel some kind of flutters in his stomach every time he so much as thought of Daphne.

Why couldn't he be falling for someone more reasonable? Lavender, Parvati, even Ginny or Hermione would be way easier to fall for you would think, but no, after one brief conversation he had started crushing on the infamous Ice Queen - so nicknamed for her personality when dealing with the boys who fawned over her like a piece of meat. But - while he certainly admired her admittedly gorgeous body - Harry didn't think he was like that. He was really mostly curious about what kind of Slytherin would be so dead-set against Voldemort, and Daphne's declaration on that point had really piqued his intrigue.

"... So before I let you all pair up and practice this for yourselves, does anyone have any questions?" Harry finished.

"Yeah, what are a bunch of Snakes doing in here" Katie Bell demanded. "I thought they were the ones we were learning to defend ourselves _from_."

At that, a murmur broke out among the DA members, some confused, not having seen the Slytherins in the room, some angry, and - the majority Harry noticed - in apparent agreement with Katie. Harry realized this was going to take a bit of explaining.

"Look everyone, Daphne heard about the DA from one of the earlier members to join - which, incidentally means that we all need to be more careful about mentioning DA around other students - but thankfully, rather than running to Umbridge, she came to me and asked to be a part of this," Harry explained. "So she, Tracey, and Blaise signed the same sign-up sheet all the rest of us did, because they wanted to learn defense, just like the rest of you. Just because they're in Slytherin doesn't make them evil gits like Malfoy."

Harry noticed Daphne relaxing a little as he spoke, and at the end of his defense, she even made eye contact with him and mouthed "Thank you" to him. Harry felt that now-familiar leaping feeling before pulling his focus back to his lesson.

"So, unless there are any questions about the Impediment Jinx, pair up and I'll walk around and try to help everyone to get this right."

Everyone quickly paired up, leaving Blaise and Neville both partnerless. Harry ushered them together, reluctantly, but he assured Neville it would be fine. He resolved to himself to keep a close eye on their pairing, worried for his friend. He almost immediately chastised himself for falling back on the very prejudice he had just told the entire DA to get over. He would have to work on that.

He walked around, offering his usual bits of advice as he watched the general body of work improve. While reluctant to watch Daphne too closely, after working with every other pair in the room he decided he really ought to - after all, they were here to learn from him. He was practically stunned when he saw Daphne hit Tracey with a perfect Impediment Jinx.

"Wow, that was excellent Daphne. No offense, but why have I never noticed you in Defense classes before now? I feel like I would have noticed someone outperforming Hermione."

Daphne rolled her eyes at the mention of Hermione, the supposed first in their class, but limited her response to "I guess you didn't pay any of us Slytherins much attention except to notice how much of a prick Draco was being. But it seems like you've at least started to realize your mistake in that regard, so at least you're making progress."

"Fair enough," Harry replied. "The point was, that was a really excellent jinx." He turned to her friend. "Tracey, you've almost got it down, but you really need to focus on the jabbing part of the wand motion. You're being really aggressive with it, and it needs to be a little bit more understated to work at it's full potential." He demonstrated the correct wand movement, and was pleased to see that she was able to correct it on her next attempt.

" _Finite_ ," he lifted the jinx from Daphne. "You both look to have this under control, but practice makes perfect. Besides, you need to be able to do this without thinking, instinctively. Because if you have to think about it when you're facing a Death Eater, or Voldemort himself, you're already dead." As he turned to go help the people who were still struggling with the spell, he realized that while Tracey had flinched at the mention of Voldemort's name, Daphne hardly reacted at all. Harry thought he'd had a crush before, but at that moment, he was certain.

He was falling for Daphne Greengrass.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** As usual, I own nothing because I am not JK Rowling. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

* * *

The next few weeks passed without significant incident, as the entire school anticipated the upcoming Gryffindor-Slytherin quidditch match. Harry wasn't especially nervous himself - being talked about and mocked because of quidditch was much easier to deal with than whispers about him being a mad attention-seeking prat. Ron, on the other hand, was struggling with the pressure. Harry tried to help him through it, but he wasn't having too much success.

The day of the match, Harry and Ron went down for an early breakfast, partly because Angelina had instructed the team to get down to the pitch early for her pre-game pep talk, but also because Harry was trying to get Ron out of the Great Hall before Draco and his crew got there. And maybe - though Harry was hesitant to admit it even to himself - because he didn't really want to see Daphne beforehand; playing Slytherin would be difficult enough without adding to the equation his complicated feelings for that particular Slytherin.

"I'm done Harry. I'll play today, because I know we'd have to forfeit if I didn't, but I can't do this. I don't know what possessed me to try out in the first place, but I'm lousy, and when we lose tod-"

Ron never got a chance to finish as Harry slapped him across the face.

"Look mate, I know you're nervous, but you're a hell of a player, you can save anything if you can just get over your nerves. You've got this, we're going to win today, and with a little luck, we'll be holding the Quidditch Cup at the end of the season, okay?"

"Right. I think I needed that, thanks," Ron managed to respond, although he still looked a bit shaken.

"C'mon then, let's just grab a bit of toast and head down to the pitch."

"Okay, yeah, let's do that."

* * *

Most of the Slytherins had been singing "Weasley is Our King" for the past 10 minutes, and Ron's keeping ability was suffering accordingly, much to Harry's chagrin. Fortunately, Gryffindor's chasers had been quite active at well, and they were only down 30-50. Harry was trying to block out the screaming Slytherins, hoping that the DA members were above such low tricks to win when he saw a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. He spun around and dove, finding Malfoy right behind him. He urged his firebolt forwards, extended his arm and - YES, he'd caught it! Suddenly, he felt a dull pain in his back and saw a bludger soaring away. He landed, dismounted, a laid on the ground for a second, letting the pain fade to a dull throb.

Malfoy walked over as the fans rushed the pitch in celebration. "Well, did you at least like my lyrics Potter? Weasley didn't seem to, but what would you expect of someone who was _born in a bin_?"

"Get lost Malfoy, no one needs you around here, especially after such an embarrassing performance. You can't talk shit when you lose."

As Malfoy skulked away, Harry sat up and looked around to see who had stepped in to defend him, expecting to see Hermione or maybe one of the Gryffindor chasers, but was surprised to see Tracey Davis, with Daphne and Blaise in tow. He was also pleasantly surprised to see that none of them were wearing "Weasley is Our King" pins, at least, not that he could see.

Daphne walked over to Harry, looking concerned. "Potter, should we get Madam Pomfrey? It looked like Crabbe got you pretty good with that late bludger."

Harry got to his feet, replying "No, I think I'm good, just a bit bruised, but thanks for asking. And thanks for stepping in with Malfoy there, you probably just kept me from doing something really stupid."

"No problem," Daphne answered with a smile, "We'd hate to lose our teacher to detention after all."

"Well I should go get cleaned up, but I'm sure I'll see y'all around," Harry said, turning towards the locker room.

"No problem, and congrats on the game!" Daphne said walking away, hoping Harry didn't notice the slight blush on her cheeks.

* * *

"Okay, what's up between you and Potter?" Tracey Davis asked her best friend in the library that evening.

"What do you mean?" Daphne said quickly, not quite meeting her eyes. "He's the leader of the DA, we have classes together, but there's nothing 'up between us' as you put it."

"And I'm a _Mimbulus mimbletonia_ ," Tracey replied. "You couldn't keep yourself from blushing while you were talking to him after the game, and don't think I haven't noticed how often you glance at him during classes either."

"I was NOT blushing earlier," Daphne replied blushingly, "It was cold out there. And I have NOT been staring at him wistfully."

"Well no one said anything about staring wistfully until just now, but thanks for confirming it. You're crushing on Potter, aren't you?"

"No..." Daphne answered unconvincingly. "Besides, even if I did think about him… that way… it wouldn't matter, he barely acknowledges my presence."

"That's not what I've seen. He defended you - well, us - that first day at DA, he thanked you for stepping in against Malfoy today, which you didn't even do, and, well, let's just say you aren't the only one staring wistfully."

"What? Harry? Staring at me? Wistfully? When? Where? What?"

"Slow down Daphne. In classes, he's looking at you at least as often as you're looking at him. I think there might be something there."

"Really?"

"Yeah. So, let's try this again. What's happening between you and Potter? Actually, what do you _want_ to be happening between you and Potter?"

Daphne paused for a moment. "You know, I might be developing a bit of a crush on Harry Potter," she admitted to her friend.

"I KNEW IT!"

"Keep it down or Madam Pince will have our necks!" Daphne whispered furiously. "So what do I do now?" she whispered to her friend.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**

This is probably closer to the update rate you can expect from me most of the time, the first few chapters all came faster because it was break, but during school this is about what I can do. My apologies for any mistakes, I've corrected a couple from earlier chapters at reviewers' requests, and really appreciate the feedback I'm getting from all of you. Thanks for reading and please keep reviewing, it really helps!

I still own nothing, JK Rowling owns all.

* * *

The Slytherin common room that night was not a pleasant place to be that evening - not that Daphne ever felt the eerie green glow from the lake was the most pleasant environment to work in, but at least by now people generally knew to leave her alone. Unfortunately, there was one person who didn't get that memo, and she had insulted him in front of the entire school after the match that morning.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Tracey?" Draco asked.

"I was going to go to bed, is that a crime now?"

"No, but defending Potter rather than your own housemates is. Why do you and Daphne keep hanging around him in the hallway - I've seen you talking to him at least twice in the past couple of months. Besides, you two are always spending time with Ravenclaws and even Hufflepuffs - wouldn't you rather associate with wizards of class, your societal equals?"

"If there were any wizards of class in Slytherin aside from Blaise, we might just do that, but since there aren't any, we were forced to find other people," Daphne retorted. "It turns out that every other house has guys in it who aren't complete pricks."

Draco's face was turning red with fury, but he managed to calm himself enough to reply. "You. Are. Slytherins. If you don't like us, that's one thing, but turning traitor is another. Supporting Potter over us is crossing the line. Don't let me catch you doing it again, or I'll make sure you regret it." With that, he turned on his heel and marched into the boy's dormitory.

"I'd like to see him try," Daphne muttered to Tracey.

Tracey smiled back. Draco was definitely a prick, but she knew Daphne would never have fought him that hard even a week ago. She was falling hard for Harry.

"Well, you'll just have to give him a reason then," she replied.

* * *

Harry, Ron, and Hermione pushed their way through the snow to Hagrid's hut for their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson after Hagrid's return. Despite some nerves about whatever surprise Hagrid had in store for them, Harry was feeling more excited to start the week than he had since he found out Umbridge was their professor.

They were, not surprisingly, among the first to arrive, even beating Hagrid. As the class trickled in around them, Harry became steadily more nervous for Hagrid's lesson. He was certain that even if Umbridge didn't try to inspect Hagrid during this lesson, it would be soon. He was equally certain that almost any "surprise" Hagrid had come up with would not make Umbridge more approving of him.

"Alrigh' everyone. We're headin' inter the fores' today, so follow me, and stick close. We're not goin' too far in, but be careful anyways," Hagrid said as he finally arrived.

Everyone followed, as Harry's spirits plunged - going into the forest was not a good sign for the likelihood of whatever creature Hagrid wanted to show them being ministry approved, much less Umbridge approved. His fears were slightly alleviated when they stopped and he saw the creepy skeletal horse that had been pulling the carriages. At least these things were tameable. Then Harry felt even better as it meant he definitely wasn't seeing things, and was probably about to find out why his friends thought he would.

"Alrigh' then, here we are," Hagrid announced to the class. "Who here can tell me what we're lookin' at?"

Harry's friends, and most of the rest of the class, looked up at Hagrid as though he'd lost his mind, the only exceptions appeared to be Blaise and Neville, neither of whom volunteered an answer.

Hagrid tried again, "Who can at least see 'em?" As the three boys raised their hands, Hagrid nodded sadly and asked, "Now why is it that some of ya can see the thestrals and some can't?"

At the word "thestrals," Harry heard Hermione let out a sigh of understanding, as she and a few others - notably Daphne to Harry's eye - raised their hands.

"Alrigh' then Hermione."

"Thestrals can only be seen by those who've seen and processed death," she answered.

At that, Harry zoned out a little, barely listening to Hagrid as he thought about why he could see thestrals, and what had happened last June. Cedric's death still weighed heavily upon him - it was his fault for making Cedric touch the stupid cup. He forced himself to straighten up his face and listened to what Hagrid was saying, before he missed something important.

"Righ' you are," Hagrid said. "10 poin's for Gryffindor. Now thestrals are dead useful, they've got a 'mazing sense o' direction, great fer travelin' long distances and the like. I reckon Hogwarts has one of the only domestic herds in all o' Britain."

"But Hagrid, thestrals are really unlucky omens!" Lavender protested. "Professor Trelawney talks about them all of the time and -"

"Nah, they've jus' got a bit of a reputation from all of tha' death stuff. There's nothin' unlucky about them once you've got them tamed up a bit."

Harry was impressed - sure, these probably weren't the best creatures to show 5th years, but they were worlds better than the skrewts had been. He almost wished Umbridge had decided to inspect this lesson, but he knew she'd get her comeuppance eventually. Harry would have been loyal to Hagrid regardless, but it was nice to see him put together a really good lesson - even most of the Slytherins were paying attention as Hagrid moved on to the Thestrals' preferred diet. Harry realized rather guiltily that, aside from Draco, the only people not paying attention to Hagrid were himself and - he felt a now familiar fluttering sensation in his stomach - Daphne, who was returning his gaze with a smile just curling up the corners of her lips, though her eyes looked distracted, before she turned her attention back to Hagrid.

* * *

Harry lingered after class for a bit to talk to Hagrid, who he thanked for such an amazing lesson - as well as clearing up the mystery surrounding the thestrals - before heading back towards the castle for dinner. To his surprise, he found that he wasn't the only one to have stayed back, as Daphne was waiting not far from Hagrid's hut.

"Hey Harry," she said as they began walking towards the castle, "do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure thing," Harry said, his heart racing. What did she want to ask him? He tried to tell himself it was just something about DA, or the lesson, but he couldn't figure out why Daphne would want to talk to him about either right then.

"It's just -" she broke off, unsure how to finish the thought. "How do you deal with that?"

Harry looked back at her confused. "Deal with what?" he finally replied.

"Seeing the thestrals. D-death," she stammered. "I know you saw Voldemort kill him last June, but how do you see that and survive it? Knowing it could just as easily have been you?"

Harry forced himself to meet her gaze, knowing this would be hard for him to say, but determined to get through it regardless, "Well, that's a lot of what the DA has been about to me. I know it could have been me, so I'm doing my best to learn everything I can, and teach those I care about so that hopefully, if there's a next time, I won't have to deal with it again. To be honest, I'm not sure that I really have dealt with it," he went on, his voice barely a whisper at this point. "I still have nightmares about it, but instead of Cedric, it's Ron, Hermione, Si- my godfather..." he trailed off. "You get the idea. I really try not to talk about it, because as much as I know they all care about me, I don't know that I could burden them with it. Hell, I'm not sure why I'm willing to tell you about it, except that you asked."

Daphne raised an eyebrow, "You mean to tell me none of your friends have asked you about it?"

"About what happened, yeah, but not about how I was dealing with it. I guess they trust that when I put up a front and say I'm okay with everything. Speaking of which, what made you think to ask me? Don't get me wrong, I definitely appreciate it, but… Why?"

Daphne blushed slightly before admitting, "Well, after Granger, I mean, Hermione, explained the death thing, your eyes clouded over, and you looked so, well, sad. I could just tell that something was off."

Harry looked back at her. "Thank you. It's nice to know that someone cares that much. I really appreciate it," he paused before adding, "but can you please keep this between us? I don't think I need the whole school knowing about my nightmares."

"Of course Harry. I make it a point not to betray my friends' trust. Your dreams are safe with me," she promised. "I just hope I have the strength you show if I'm ever having to deal with that."

"I hope you can find someone to confide in so you don't have to," he replied. "You have no idea how much just this short conversation has really helped."

"Then we ought to have more conversations," Daphne replied with a smirk. "I'm sure it would be good for both of us."

With that she turned towards the dungeons and left Harry in the entryway, mouth slightly agape as he watched her walk away, wondering what exactly Daphne thought of their friendship - and hoping it might be more than just a friendship.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:**

Wow, sorry for the super long delay on this update, apparently little things like the holidays and applying to PhD programs limits the amount of time I have for pet projects like this, but hopefully now that classes are starting back I can get the next couple out at least a bit faster.

Hopefully this is worth the wait; please let me know what you think!

I still own nothing, that's JKR.

* * *

The Christmas holidays were fast approaching, and Harry felt more and more that he was living for his time with the DA. While Quidditch was a welcome relief from the stresses he felt piling up, it simply couldn't match the joy he got from actively working against not only Umbridge, but Voldemort himself. That evening, he decided that since it would be the final DA meeting before the holidays, he would give everyone a bit of a treat before the holidays.

"Okay everyone, I think that's about as much work with stunning as we're going to need - I'm really impressed by how well you all are doing. When we get back from break, I'm planning on starting with a few more defensive measures rather than jinxes, starting with making sure everyone has perfected their shield charms. But today, I thought I'd give you as much as I can on patronuses."

Everyone perked up at the mention of the Patronus Charm - they all knew how complicated it was said to be, and they'd all heard some form of the stories about Harry using his to drive off over a hundred dementors - and in his third year!

"I have to warn you, I might not be able to teach this to all of you. It's not really about wand movements or incantations like most defensive magic. Those are very straightforward in this case. What really makes or breaks the patronus is your ability to focus on an incredibly happy memory. I spent nearly an entire semester working with Professor Lupin on this, and even then it took a truly unique situation that I do not have time to go into to get it right. But the wand motion is pretty simple," he demonstrated, "and the incantation is _Expecto Patronum_."

He then demonstrated his own patronus, and was joined in front of the DA by the glowing image of his father's animagus. "Hey Prongs," Harry murmured to himself before allowing the patronus to fade.

"I'll walk around as usual and try to help as much as I can, but as I've already mentioned, this one is really up to your ability to draw upon the right memory and really focus on that happy moment. Well, let's see what you've got!"

As everyone spread out and began attempting the spell, the Room of Requirement began to fill with the wisps of vapor Harry had begun to associate with failure during his third year until finally-

"Harry! Is this it?" asked Susan Bones. Shortly thereafter, the hall was full of students exclaiming joyfully at not only their wonderful memories, but also the sight of the newly summoned silvery creatures.

Finally, the meeting ended, and students began to trickle out of the Room of Requirement, while Harry focused on cleaning up the room before the holidays. He looked up from his cleaning and noticed that the only people left in the room were himself, Cho Chang, and Daphne. Deciding he could quickly get rid of Cho and hopefully get a few minutes to talk to Daphne, Harry quickly crossed over to Cho, while shooting Daphne a face that spelled out "Just a second" as clearly as possible.

"Hey Cho, did you need something?" Harry asked.

She looked up at him. "Not really, it was just…. Well, after learning all of this stuff, I was wondering about whether Cedric knew all of it, and if he had if maybe…. Maybe he would still - "

"He did know it," Harry interrupted. "He was really good at it too, or he would never have made it through the maze. But when Voldemort wants to kill you, it doesn't always matter how good you are."

Cho thought about that for a second, before responding, "But he wanted to kill you too, and here you are."

"Only because he made the mistake of actually dueling me, trying to humiliate me in front of his followers. But I'd really rather not talk about that night," Harry replied rather impatiently. "I hope you have a Happy Christmas though."

Cho nodded sadly as she moved towards the exit. "Happy Christmas Harry. I hope you have a nice holiday."

Harry meanwhile, had already turned back towards Daphne, who had been skimming through the shelves of Defense books the room had provided while she waited for him to finish up with Cho. "Hey Daphne, what's up?" he asked, trying to force his quickly beating heart to act casual.

"I just realized that I never really thanked you for letting us - letting me - into the DA," she said.

"Well, you didn't give me much of a choice," Harry responded with a smirk, "but you're very welcome." He took a deep breath and went on. "Honestly, I'm glad you came up to me that day, I've really enjoyed getting to know you better."

Daphne's eyes lit up at that. "Me too. It's nice to know there's a real person behind all of that 'Boy-Who-Lived' stuff. And in a not-so-surprising turn of events, Malfoy's description of him as a show-off, weakling, and self-centered jerk was absolute garbage."

"Was that a compliment?" Harry asked. He took another small step forward, the distance between the two of them negligible at this point.

"Oh, absolutely," Daphne breathed, staring into Harry's startlingly green eyes. They each leaned forward, closing the distance between them as their lips touched in a soft, tender kiss. When they pulled back a few moments later - though it felt like much longer to them - neither could stop themselves from smiling as widely as their faces would allow.

"Well," Harry finally managed, "I hope you have a very Happy Christmas Daphne."

"You too Harry," she replied. "See you at breakfast in the morning?"

"Definitely," he replied with a smile. "I'll see you then."

* * *

"So what did Cho and Daphne want, Harry?" Hermione asked with a knowing smile as Harry joined her and Ron by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room.

"Honestly, I dunno what Cho wanted, she kinda muttered a few things about Cedric and then ran off. It was kinda uncomfortable to be honest."

Hermione could hardly contain herself from rolling her eyes at that before responding, "Honestly Harry, she's clearly into you." Harry's jaw dropped as Hermione continued, "I can't imagine how conflicted she must feel between trying to process Cedric's death, figuring out how she feels for you, and especially dealing with how those two feelings might be related since you were the one who was with him that night. She spends half of her time crying in the loo nowadays."

Ron's jaw had joined Harry's in dropping open as Hermione had tried to describe Cho's emotional state. "There's no way she can be feeling all of that at once - they'd explode or something!"

Hermione snorted with exasperation "Honestly _Ronald_ , just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all do." Turning back to Harry, with a sly look she added, "And Daphne?"

Harry grinned at the thought and stammered, "Oh, she just ummm…. Wanted to thank me for letting her into the DA."

Hermione looked skeptically at him, asking "Is that all?"

"Ummm.. I think she said Happy Christmas somewhere in there."

"Before or after she kissed you?" Hermione shot back.

"WHAT?!" Ron all-but-shouted as Harry's face turned the color of Ron's hair as confirmation of Hermione's thoughts.

"After." Harry eventually managed despite Ron's look of indignation. A long moment followed, the crackling fire the only noise in the common room.

"How was it?" Hermione finally asked.

"Well, I don't exactly have a lot to compare it to, but -" Harry started before Ron finally bellowed "You kissed a Slytherin Harry? One of those damned death eaters-in-training! How could you?"

Hermione and Harry stared at Ron in shock. "I knew you didn't like most Slytherins, but we've already had this conversation, Daphne is not the same as Malfoy, and if you can't see the difference between them, then you're no better than he is."

Ron looked like he was about to respond, but instead grabbed his stuff and stormed up the stairs to his dormitory.

Harry turned to Hermione, nostrils flared at his best friend's response to the best thing to happen to him all semester. "You know, I knew he was a bit of a git, but this is pushing his prejudices a bit too far, don't you think?"

Hermione took a moment before responding, "You don't think there's any chance he's just jealous do you?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure I really care what his reason is, he can either be happy for me, or find someone he appreciates more than me. I'm not crawling up there after him. Not after this summer. Not after last year with the goblet."

Hermione looked at Harry for a few moments before sighing resignedly, "You're right. Hopefully he'll come to his senses by morning." She turned to head upstairs as she added "Goodnight Harry!"

Harry stayed in his chair, staring into the flames in the fireplace, his thoughts of Ron and - more importantly - Daphne slowly slipping into dreams. He didn't remember falling asleep, but all of the sudden, he felt himself crawling on his belly, moving through a long, dark hallway….

* * *

Minutes later, Harry was standing in Professor Dumbledore's office, preparing to grab the portkey offered to him by the headmaster, but unable to look either Dumbledore (though not for lack of trying) or Ron in the eye. As he felt a familiar jerk behind his navel, he just had time to think, _Daphne is going to kill me for not being at breakfast tomorrow_.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note:

Hey guys, sorry for the slow (very, very slow) update. Part of it's personal, I just moved and that's been a whole thing, but a lot of it has been the story. I know where I want it to go, I've just been having some trouble getting it there.

That being said, here's (finally!) Chapter 6, read and review! Feedback and ideas just make the next chapter that much better! I have a feeling some people won't love this chapter, but it's pretty different from just about anything I can remember reading. I own nothing, because if I did, I would be publishing it, not posting it on free websites.

* * *

"I'm going to kill him. He said he would see me at breakfast, where is he?" Daphne muttered stabbing at the sausages on her plate.

"Daphne, calm down. If it were any other boy, I'd agree he's probably toying with you by taking his sweet time coming down, but it's Harry Potter. Knowing him he probably either passed Umbridge in the hallway and got detention for sneezing too loudly -"

Daphne snickered slightly at that

"- or else decided to go for an early morning walk and ended up fighting off a horde of Death Eaters." Tracy finished.

Daphne paled, before looking up and seeing Granger - no, Hermione, she corrected herself - walking into the Great Hall. At that, she got excited and began looking around for Harry, but Hermione's eyes met hers and she gave a slight shake of the head before mouthing 'He's not here.' Daphne's heart sank.

"Were you expecting any mail today?" Tracy interrupted her brooding.

"No, why?"

"This owl doesn't seem like she's going to leave until you take this letter."

Daphne looked down at the owl, unsure of why it looked so familiar, but she saw the letter was addressed to her and took it from the bird.

 _Daphne,_

 _I am so incredibly sorry not to be joining you for breakfast this morning, but I'm staying with the Weasleys over Christmas and we had a family emergency - their dad is in St. Mungos. I hope we can talk about last night more when we return from Christmas, and until then, I hope we can at least write each other._

 _Apologetically yours,_

 _Harry_

"Okay, so maybe I don't have to kill him..." Daphne muttered.

"No, then you wouldn't have anyone to sneak off to broom cupboard with," Tracy replied as she stood up, walking away from her best friend slightly more quickly than she might have otherwise, smirking the entire time.

* * *

The previous night at 12 Grimmauld Place had been a rather tense affair. Aside from the terror of waiting to hear whether or not Mr. Weasley was going to pull through after his encounter with Voldemort's snake, every interaction between Harry and Ron made evident that things were not okay between them. When it became evident that they would neither be sleeping that night, nor returning to Hogwarts before the start of the holidays, Harry asked Sirius for some parchment to write Daphne. Clearly, that was more than Ron could bear.

"Glad to see you're so calm about all of this that you can take time to write to your slut of a girlfriend!" he spat. Harry decided that, all things considered, Ron was just stressed about his Dad and probably didn't mean it. He would let the comment slide this once. But Ron had other ideas.

"Oh, I see, she's manipulated you so much you don't even care about us - you know, your ONLY FRIENDS" Harry opened his mouth to retort, but before he could say anything he was cut off by Ginny.

"What girlfriend?" she asked, barely concealing the tears in her eyes.

"I don't actually have a girlfriend Ginny," Harry said, trying to fend off the meltdown he knew was coming.

"Oh, so you just snogged the snake and walked off, did you Potter?" Ron interjected

Harry was in the process of shouting him down when Ron called him Potter. That was his last straw. "Look Ron, I honestly don't give a damn what you think about me and Daphne. I'm going to go find Hedwig to send this to her and explain that I disappeared because of a FAMILY emergency - because as far as I'm concerned, you guys are my family. Please don't ruin that, not right now." He turned and stormed up the stairs, more dejected than angry, as tears rolled off of his face at the thought of being truly abandoned by the closest thing to a brother he had ever known.

* * *

A few minutes later, Harry heard a knock at his door.

"Can I come in?" Ginny asked through the door.

"Why not?" Harry said, not stirring from his pillow.

"So, you and Daphne?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. I mean, I hope so. I mean - "

"I'm over you you know." Ginny interrupted his incoherent ramblings.

"Huh?" was Harry's very eloquent response.

"The crush I had on you? I'm over it. Actually, I'm really happy for you and Daphne."

"I'm glad to hear that. I'd kinda thought you were getting over it, what with speaking to me the past couple of years and dating Michael, but... why did it look like you were about to cry when Ron mentioned her downstairs if you're so over me?" Harry asked.

"To be honest, I think you're right about Ron. I'm not sure he'll get over this. And while I am over my crush, I do like having you around. You wouldn't think I'd like having a 7th older brother, but... Well, I just don't want you to think that Ron being mad at you means you can't still think of all of us as your family. I guess I can't speak for everyone, but as far as I'm concerned, you've got a Weasley sweater, and while we might not always agree - just look at what a prat Percy is being - we are all family."

Harry's eyes started filling with tears again - this time from happiness. "Thanks Gin. For what it's worth, I've viewed you all as my real family since Fred and George pulled the bars off of my window before my second year. I just wish I knew what Ron's problem was so that I could fix it."

"Well... Do you think he might be jealous? That's always been the biggest issue with you two before." Ginny said.

Harry thought about that. Ron did tend to get jealous pretty easily, the fiasco with the Goblet of Fire last year had made that clear. And he was pretty sure that Ron didn't have any girls lining up to kiss him. "Well, short of him magically coming to his senses sometime soon, what can we do about that?" Harry wondered out loud. Ginny smirked back at him,

"Actually, I do have an idea about that..."


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** I know it's been a while, but I have not acquired rights to any of the characters, locations, plot points, or... Well, anything else related to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

As always, reviews only make the next chapter come out that much better and faster! I promise I'm not abandoning this anytime soon, but it's a hobby, and pretty much on the backburner, but I've finally taken the time to outline large chunks (through 5th year as of now) so hopefully that will speed some of the actual writing up.

I'm using italics both for written word and thoughts that aren't spoken dialogue, I think it should be really obvious which is which, but if for some reason that gets confusing, let me know and I can try something else for it.

Lastly, I'm finding I really enjoy writing Daphne's POV, so here you go...

* * *

"So Daph, what did you say in your letter back to Harry?" Tracy asked.

Daphne looked back blankly at her best friend, "What letter?"

Tracy sighed before responding, "Well, you kissed the boy and he sent you a letter that I thought you might have responded to at some point since you probably won't see him for a few weeks..."

Daphne's face paled. "I need to write him a letter. Now."

"Yes, you really probably should. I'll leave you to it then," Tracy said as she walked away, knowing her friend would make for rather boring - or more likely non-existent - conversation until she had finished writing the letter.

Meanwhile, Daphne got to work writing her letter:

 _Harry,_

 _I hope this letter finds you (and Mr. Weasley) well, and I appreciate you letting me know why you left school early; I had been quite worried until your owl showed up. She's beautiful, by the way, what is her name?_

 _I'm heading back on the Express tomorrow, and hopefully will get to take care of what's left of my Christmas shopping when my parents pick me up at the station. Do you have any plans for the next few days?_

 _Anyways, I hope this letter makes clear that, yes, I would be very happy to write you often over the holidays, as well as to talk more about us when we both return._

 _Until then,_

 _Daphne_

It was at this point that Daphne realized she had no idea where to send the letter. "I guess I could just address it with his name and hope my owl, Primrose, could find him," Daphne thought to herself, "But she's never had to do that before, and I'm not sure she'd be able to find him."

When she arrived in the owlery to give her letter to Primrose, she was surprised to be greeted by a familiar-looking snowy owl. "You're Harry's owl, right?" Daphne wondered aloud. "Hooo!" the owl responded. "Can you take this letter to him for me?"

"Breeek!"

"Here, just let me finish it really quickly," Daphne said as she jotted a quick post-script.

 _P.S. Your owl is smart as well as beautiful - she found me in the owlery trying to send this to you. I hope she can find you quickly!_

"Here you go girl, can you take this to Harry for me?"

Hedwig hooted a little indignantly at even being asked such a question before flying through the window and off towards London.

* * *

Harry looked skeptically at Tonks as she spoke to the mannikin through the glass window. _How on Earth does she expect it to hear her through the glass?_ he wondered before coming to his senses and realizing that it was an inanimate mannikin and couldn't hear her regardless. He mentally ridiculed himself for several seconds - until the mannikin reached its arms out and pulled first Tonks, then Ginny, Arthur, the twins, Ron, himself and finally Moody through the glass.

 _Right, magic. Not only can the mannikin hear through the glass, it is also very much NOT inanimate_. Harry sighed. _I really need to stop underestimating magic, it would be just as easy to set up some kind of trap like that as an entrance to a hosp-_

"Harry, keep up!"

He looked up to see Tonks looking at him with a bemused grin. "Oh, sorry, I got lost in my head for a bit there. My bad, I'm right behind you." As he hurried to catch up, he caught Ron mumbling something with a dark look on his face, but was unable to make out what it was. He assumed it probably had something to do with "filthy snakes," but he didn't have time to sort out Ron's problems in that moment - he had just fully remembered why they were in the wizarding hospital in the first place and his mind was suddenly racing not only with concern for Mr. Weasley - who along with Sirius was probably the closest thing he had ever really known to a father - but also with concern for why he had seen this whole episode from the snake's point of view. Try as he might to convince himself that he had never left his bed, he still felt more than a bit of guilt as he tried to convince himself that he couldn't be responsible for attacking Mr. Weasley - but then, why could he remember the sensation of his fangs puncturing flesh, the taste of blood as it poured out... He shook his head to clear such disturbing thoughts and followed everyone else into the room.

* * *

While Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were overwhelmingly grateful to Harry for his intervention in the attack, Harry made his excuses and stepped out to go look for the tea room after only a few minutes, unable to stand the muttered snide comments of the boy he considered his best friend. Not far behind him were the twins and, a step behind them, Ginny.

One of the twins (Harry thought it was Fred, but it was hard to be certain) began to apologize, "Sorry about our -"

"-git of a brother, Harry."

"Hopefully he'll stop being such a -"

"-jealous prat soon. Maybe if we could -"

"-find someone for him to -"

"-snog, it would speed things -"

"-up," finished the original twin.

Harry laughed, while Ginny smirked.

"See Harry, I told you that was a good solution."

The twins looked at each other in shock. "Who on Earth -"

"-do you know who would be willing to -"

The round of twin-pong was cut short when they literally ran into Neville Longbottom rounding the corner. After a rapid-fire round of apologies on both sides, Ginny asked Neville, rather hesitantly, "Is everything okay Neville? Is your Gran -"

"She's fine," replied Neville, before quietly adding, "we're just here visiting my parents."

"Your parents? I thought.." Harry started before remembering what he had seen in the pensieve trial the year prior. "I'm sorry," he finished. "I can only imagine how hard that must be."

"It feels easier this year than it has in a long time," Neville said with a bit more confidence. "Knowing that with the DA and all that I'm finally living up to their legacy, working to avenge them."

Harry smiled back at him. "That feeling I understand completely Neville."


End file.
